


Deciphering the Chaotic Mind-An Ongoing Investigation

by LockePeter



Category: Star Trek: The Original Series
Genre: 3D Chess, Fluff, M/M, Most Illogical
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-06-01
Updated: 2013-06-01
Packaged: 2017-12-13 14:46:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,877
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/825514
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LockePeter/pseuds/LockePeter
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Near the beginning of the five year voyage of the enterprise, the ship's taciturn first officer finds a perfect match for both his favorite game....and another, to which he doesn't not know the rules and is quite unfamiliar with. A dismaying prospect, to be sure.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Deciphering the Chaotic Mind-An Ongoing Investigation

**Author's Note:**

> Canon: TOS, not the reboot AU. 
> 
> Author's note: This piece is meant to be read in one's best Leonard Nimoy impression.

A Dzharsky feint, adapted from a similar bishop-based maneuver in the simplified version of chess, intended to draw undue attention to the middle board, ultimately the least important section in the late game. Countered, of course, by a Zhawlyk offensive on the top board, leading with the third rook. Followed in turn by a defensive withdrawal on the selfsame board, revealing in doing so a gambit put into motion far earlier on the bottommost board.

Pure, regimented, ordered genius. Spock considered his next move, exuding calm. His opponent was quite nearly perfect, a precise equal in skill to Spock himself. This fact mainly due to a very similar schooling in tri-dimensional chess, a studying of the same maneuvers and the same tutelage of the same chess masters on Vulcan. The only fact keeping this from being an entirely incongruous coincidence in its unlikelihood was that Spock's opponent was, in fact, Science Officer Spock. 

It was only logical that Spock would find a perfect opponent in himself. He was now aboard a human vessel, and he had only briefly imagined with a good deal of distaste the level of skill one of the humans would display at his favorite game. Even watching would be....distasteful. No. That was too close to a human emotion, it would be...

Spock's thoughts were interrupted by the sound of someone striking at his door. Spock's first thought, and what nearly emerged from his mouth was _come in, mother_ , as to his knowledge, his human mother had been the only person he'd known to follow the strange custom of striking a door to announce one's intention to enter through it. If one wished to inform a person within the room of your identity upon entry, it would be far more logical and less time consuming to simply open the door and present oneself, allowing for the entirely natural sensory inputs of sight and voice to establish one's identity. He theorized that perhaps this human practice was a carryover from their days of battering down the gates of great stone fortresses, an unfortunate cultural artifact curiously preserved.

Spock raised his eyebrows, considering the board for a moment more before remembering that there was in fact a verbal component to this gatekeeping procedure.

"You may enter." Spock nodded, having satisfactorily performed his role in the great and baffling masquerade of human culture.

To Spock's surprise, the captain of the vessel entered. An unannounced inspection of the personal quarters of the crew? Unprecedented, and certainly nowhere in Starfleet regulatory procedures. Captain Pike had never sprung such an unexpected appearance on him, and Spock allowed himself to be slightly irked at the prospect of presumptuous command.

"May I ask if you will be inspecting the entirety of the crew quarters, Captain?" Spock angled his mouth into the tiniest quirk of a smile.

"I...no, you misunderstand, I just came to try and...get to know you a little better. Please, just call me Jim." Captain Kirk walked over to the table, looking over the chessboard.

"You seem to recognize the game...Jim. Do you understand the rules?" He thought he might have given undue credit had he asked if the human knew how to play.

"Yes...three dimensional chess. I used to play quite a bit back at Starfleet Academy. Are you...who exactly are you playing with?" Kirk hesistated, shifting his gaze up to Spock's, eyes questioning.

"Myself, C-Jim. I am using a method of Vulcan mental discipline to entertain two separate conscious streams of thought, enabling me to test my own cognitive abilities in this way without the benefit of one stream knowing what the other will do next. I do not, as you might say, peek." It would have been illogical for Spock to allow a note of pride to enter his tone at that point, as he was merely informing his commanding officer of one of the abilities at his disposal (an important future tactical note, possibly). He may have altered his posture very slightly in order to allow for better breath flow through his diaphragm, with a side effect of slightly extending his chest. Vulcans do not preen.

"Well it seems you've just started to get into the thick of things, haven't you. Yes, of course, I can see the positioning here, very important, very tricky of you. This weakness would be the key to white's offensive." Kirk pointed out an obvious lure that the part of Spock controlling the black pieces had placed mostly to amuse himself.

"One possibility. And would you care to sit in on the game, Jim? Since you seem to have such a clear understanding of the correct course of action for the white pieces, it would only be logical for you to take control of those. Unless you would like for me to reset the board and start fresh." Spock reached for the pieces already set off to the side-a series of perfectly even, calculated trades in the early game.

"No, no....you play with the hand you were given as a starship captain, always. The...crew that's available to you, the situation you're already in. I like it better this way." Kirk sat down, taking in the board with a feverish intensity, an intelligent, chaotic glimmer in his eye.

"I think you'll find that it is your move, Jim." Spock steepled his fingers, watching his opponent carefully. The captain's emotional capacity was a factor that needed to be carefully considered in this game. Spock reminded himself that behind those...intense, probing eyes, that furrowed brow was the mind of a human, not a vulcan. The thought was strangely stimulating, and what had been an idle passing of time was now an intriguing experiment.

"Of course. Well, then, let's take a look at that opening, shall we?" The Captain moved a piece. On a different board from the lure he'd pointed out earlier. In another direction entirely. 

Spock blinked. Quickly, he rifled through the vast archive of strategies and historical games contained in his memory. This particular, incongruous move seemed to show up in almost none of them, and where it did it must surely have been pure coincidence.

"Very well, Jim." Spock responded with a classical tightening technique first used by chessmaster Yorick Qualnav to win the highly contested championship of Tatrox IV. 

And again, all the while looking like he had a plan in mind, this Jim responded with an entirely illogical series of moves. Spock frowned deeply, weighing his options, and entered into an offensive on the bottom board, abandoning the use of his lure.

When pieces were exchanged, Kirk moved without any hesitation, and the pair of them began to remove pieces from the board for each other in rapid succession. Spock was very careful to maintain strict Vulcan decorum, but somehow allowing his hands to very nearly brush up against those of the human did not seem quite so illogical as it might have initially. A strange irregularity, to be sure.

Spock noted with satisfaction that his own losses were less than the Captain's, but that the human had coincidentally managed to end up in a slightly better position on the board. 

"Fascinating." Spock hesistated a moment before his next move.

"What is?" Kirk smiled, and Spock noticed with some confusion an involuntary change in his respiratory rate and pulse. Some strange quirk of his human genetics, easily compensated for.

"Your pattern of moves, Captain. I have calculated the odds of you exiting such an exchange with the position that you have purely by coincidence, and they are astronomical against a player of my own caliber. May I ask who you studied under?" 

"Studied? I think I mentioned, I played with my friends at the Academy. I learned the rules there, but I never took a formal course in it. Too busy studying for the business of being a starship captain, it's quite a difficult thing to achieve." Kirk made another move that Spock chose to ignore in order to keep his understanding of the structure and strategy of three dimensional chess intact. 

"I have heard that by human standards it is quite difficult. Though I find the notion that you were never formally tutored in Chess strategy quite improbable, Jim."

"I always seemed to do fairly well when I played at the academy, Mister Spock. I don't know what else I can tell you." 

Kirk shrugged, seeming totally at ease, even in this unfamiliar place. Most humans seemed to have an instinctual unease when in a place owned by another, not so for this Captain Jim Kirk.

"There are a number of things that I would like you to tell me, Jim. I feel...that there is much that I could learn about you. Only so much can be gleaned by a game of chess, but it is nonetheless an excellent baseline." Spock moved his lips into an upward facing curve, in order to reassure the human of his benign intentions. 

"Well we do have five years. I'm sure in that time we could...begin to get to know one another better, don't you think?" Kirk smiled, not really looking at the board as he made his next move.

"Yes, and indeed, perhaps in the course of those years you could begin to approach a level of challenge even to me in this game. Check, captain. With a bit of formal tutoring, which I would be happy to provide..." Spock trailed off. Kirk had made another move, finally taking the piece he'd pointed out when he first entered the room.

The pair looked down at the board, then made eye contact over the pieces.

"Mister Spock, I do believe this is check...and mate as well."

"Impossible." Spock stood up for a better view. His hand hovered a moment over his king, but he had already evaluated his options. It did not take long, as he had none. 

"Well, Mister Spock, I'm sure over the course of five years, with some formal tutoring, which I would be happy to provide..." Kirk grinned, leaning back in his chair. 

"Captain I must request time to consider the course of this game." Spock sat down, carefully replacing the pieces in the order that the moves had been played. 

Kirk stood up, clapping the frowning vulcan on the shoulder as he went, his fingers sliding over Spock's scapula and shoulderblade as he walked by. The...impact...of the captain's palm caused Spock's own hand to shake very slightly, and he quickly picked up the piece he had dropped on the board.

"Of course, Mister Spock. Sulu informs me that we should be reaching our destination within four hours. I'll expect to see you present on the landing party for our first away team, but feel free to take as long as you want between here and there." Kirk reached over one more time to right a piece that had fallen over on the lower board....as well as stealthily replace a second pawn that hadn't been of much concern until the last move of the game. 

Nothing wrong with a captain keeping his crew on their toes, of course. Just good command procedure. 

"Captain, I would not miss it for the world. Any world."


End file.
